Here’s a summary of a seminal work on high-performance organization design by Accenture consulting team - Tim Breene, Paul F. Nunes and Walt Shill – who argue that by creating a senior leadership team, under a Chief Strategy Officer, organizations can accelerate their objective of realizing the true benefits of strategy.
More and more companies are competing on organization design by configuring the C-suite in new and powerful ways. Organizations are increasingly adding a strategist, often called a chief strategy officer, or CSO, to their top ranks. The Chief Strategy Officer’s main responsibility is to ensure that execution flows from strategic planning.
Why do companies need a Chief Strategy Officer?
Complex organizational structures, rapid globalization, new regulations and the struggle to innovate, among other challenges, have obviated the need for the typical CEO to be on top of all parts of the business. Further, the nature of strategy itself has changed during the past decade, with strategy development becoming a continuous process, and successful execution therefore depending more than ever on rapid and effective decision making. Lastly, centralized control of execution often breaks down when maverick line executives define strategy according to their own plans and interests. This is where Chief Strategy Officer’s can come in handy. The CSO often confronts companywide issues that were once the sole responsibility of the chief executive.
Kimberly-Clark Chief Strategy Officer, Robert Black, whose previous jobs include chief operating officer of Sammons Enterprises (a conglomerate with more than $27 billion in assets) and president of international operations at Steelcase, the global office-furniture company, explains his role this way: “Over the course of a week, I’m spending time on consumer innovation, business process outsourcing, financial structure, product supply chain, international expansion, communications, acquisitions. Most people in today’s functionally oriented career paths don’t have the experience to address so many diverse challenges at once.”
Ideally, a Chief Strategy Officer should come with a string of high-profile positions, in a variety of companies and in a wide range of industries, organizational cultures and geographic locations. This experience and unique positioning at the top also enables the CSO to offer perspectives and ask questions that other senior executives can’t or won’t. Because the Chief Strategy Officer is willing to discuss subjects no one else wants to touch, important but buried issues no longer serve as barriers to agreement and action. At the same time, the Chief Strategy Officer must also ensure that the top ranks maintain the right market focus so that strategic initiatives don’t stall and business opportunities, a key to market position, don’t get lost. Chief Strategy Officer's actively resolve strategic questions that overwhelmed business-unit heads just don’t have time to deal with. Chief Strategy Officer's build world-class strategy development and execution capabilities within the company. In fact, many strategy chiefs are helping their companies compete on organization design by creating departments specifically for that purpose, hiring people with strong strategy-related skills and competencies (in business development, competitive analysis and M&A, for example). In the long term, the role of top strategy executive can become an effective succession-planning tool. People take on the chief strategy role because they want to run the business sooner or later.
For the Chief Strategy Officer, the most critical ingredient for success is probably a strong relationship with the CEO. Chief strategy officers are often given broad authority to tackle companywide challenges and seize new business opportunities, so there must be a strong sense of trust between the Chief Strategy Officer and the chief executive. A long professional and personal history between them isn’t absolutely necessary, but it helps.
Traits in a Chief Strategy Officer
More and more companies are competing on organization design by configuring the C-suite in new and powerful ways. Organizations are increasingly adding a strategist, often called a chief strategy officer, or CSO, to their top ranks. The Chief Strategy Officer’s main responsibility is to ensure that execution flows from strategic planning.
Why do companies need a Chief Strategy Officer?
Complex organizational structures, rapid globalization, new regulations and the struggle to innovate, among other challenges, have obviated the need for the typical CEO to be on top of all parts of the business. Further, the nature of strategy itself has changed during the past decade, with strategy development becoming a continuous process, and successful execution therefore depending more than ever on rapid and effective decision making. Lastly, centralized control of execution often breaks down when maverick line executives define strategy according to their own plans and interests. This is where Chief Strategy Officer’s can come in handy. The CSO often confronts companywide issues that were once the sole responsibility of the chief executive.
Kimberly-Clark Chief Strategy Officer, Robert Black, whose previous jobs include chief operating officer of Sammons Enterprises (a conglomerate with more than $27 billion in assets) and president of international operations at Steelcase, the global office-furniture company, explains his role this way: “Over the course of a week, I’m spending time on consumer innovation, business process outsourcing, financial structure, product supply chain, international expansion, communications, acquisitions. Most people in today’s functionally oriented career paths don’t have the experience to address so many diverse challenges at once.”
Ideally, a Chief Strategy Officer should come with a string of high-profile positions, in a variety of companies and in a wide range of industries, organizational cultures and geographic locations. This experience and unique positioning at the top also enables the CSO to offer perspectives and ask questions that other senior executives can’t or won’t. Because the Chief Strategy Officer is willing to discuss subjects no one else wants to touch, important but buried issues no longer serve as barriers to agreement and action. At the same time, the Chief Strategy Officer must also ensure that the top ranks maintain the right market focus so that strategic initiatives don’t stall and business opportunities, a key to market position, don’t get lost. Chief Strategy Officer's actively resolve strategic questions that overwhelmed business-unit heads just don’t have time to deal with. Chief Strategy Officer's build world-class strategy development and execution capabilities within the company. In fact, many strategy chiefs are helping their companies compete on organization design by creating departments specifically for that purpose, hiring people with strong strategy-related skills and competencies (in business development, competitive analysis and M&A, for example). In the long term, the role of top strategy executive can become an effective succession-planning tool. People take on the chief strategy role because they want to run the business sooner or later.
For the Chief Strategy Officer, the most critical ingredient for success is probably a strong relationship with the CEO. Chief strategy officers are often given broad authority to tackle companywide challenges and seize new business opportunities, so there must be a strong sense of trust between the Chief Strategy Officer and the chief executive. A long professional and personal history between them isn’t absolutely necessary, but it helps.
Traits in a Chief Strategy Officer
1. A master of multitasking – Accenture survey suggests that Chief Strategy Officer's are responsible for an average of 10 major business functions and activ- ities, as diverse and demanding as M&A, competitive analysis and market research, and long-range planning. They must be capable of quickly switching between environments and activities
2. A jack-of-all-trades - most strategy executives reported that they had significant line management and functional experience in such areas as technology management, marketing and operations. Less than one-fifth had spent the bulk of their pre-Chief Strategy Officer careers on strategic planning
3. A star player - Most Chief Strategy Officer's achieved impressive business results earlier in their careers and view the strategy role as a launching pad, not a landing pad
4. A doer, not just a thinker - Although Chief Strategy Officer's split their time almost evenly between strategy development and execution, their bias must be toward the latter
5. The guardian of horizon two - Senior teams generally have a good handle on short- and longterm issues. The medium term, that period from one to four years out, can go underattended, however. Chief Strategy Officer's must focus the organization’s attention on horizon two, the critical period for strategy execution
6. An influencer, not a dictator - Strategy chiefs don’t succeed by pulling rank. They sway others with their deep industry knowledge, their organizational connections and their ability to communicate effectively
7. Comfortable with ambiguity - All executives today must exhibit this trait, but it’s especially true for Chief Strategy Officers, whose actions typically won’t pay off for years. The role tends to evolve rapidly and requires an extraordinary ability to embrace an uncertain future
8. Objective - Given their wide remit, chief strategy officers can’t play favorites. Openly partisan CSOs, or those who let emotions or the strength of other personalities cloud their vision, are sure to fail
Thanks Tim Breene, Paul F. Nunes and Walt Shill, Accenture Consulting, 2008
2. A jack-of-all-trades - most strategy executives reported that they had significant line management and functional experience in such areas as technology management, marketing and operations. Less than one-fifth had spent the bulk of their pre-Chief Strategy Officer careers on strategic planning
3. A star player - Most Chief Strategy Officer's achieved impressive business results earlier in their careers and view the strategy role as a launching pad, not a landing pad
4. A doer, not just a thinker - Although Chief Strategy Officer's split their time almost evenly between strategy development and execution, their bias must be toward the latter
5. The guardian of horizon two - Senior teams generally have a good handle on short- and longterm issues. The medium term, that period from one to four years out, can go underattended, however. Chief Strategy Officer's must focus the organization’s attention on horizon two, the critical period for strategy execution
6. An influencer, not a dictator - Strategy chiefs don’t succeed by pulling rank. They sway others with their deep industry knowledge, their organizational connections and their ability to communicate effectively
7. Comfortable with ambiguity - All executives today must exhibit this trait, but it’s especially true for Chief Strategy Officers, whose actions typically won’t pay off for years. The role tends to evolve rapidly and requires an extraordinary ability to embrace an uncertain future
8. Objective - Given their wide remit, chief strategy officers can’t play favorites. Openly partisan CSOs, or those who let emotions or the strength of other personalities cloud their vision, are sure to fail
Thanks Tim Breene, Paul F. Nunes and Walt Shill, Accenture Consulting, 2008
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